Truly, friends, the Lord Almighty hates Cubs fans.
As you know by now, Aramis Ramirez AND Carlos Marmol (totally unimportant players, you know?) left last night’s game with injuries. Details are somewhat thin, but for now, Ramirez seems to be in worse shape than Marmol.
Ramirez had to leave Friday’s game — a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals — with a strained left calf, and Marmol had some pain on the inside of his left knee. Both will be examined Saturday. Marmol scoffed at the notion of going on the disabled list. Ramirez wasn’t too positive.
Ramirez felt some discomfort in his left leg after he doubled leading off the second. He stayed in the game, but had to come out in the fifth with a strained left calf.
“We’ll see how it feels [Saturday],” Ramirez said. “Right now, it doesn’t feel too good.” cubs.com
Ugh. No Bradley, no Ramirez. Offense scuffling anyway. Swoot.
“I never had it before,” said Marmol, who was to see a doctor in St. Louis on Saturday. “They took me out so it wouldn’t get worse.”
Asked if he thought he might go on the disabled list, Marmol shook his head.
“No — I don’t think so,” he said.
That’s good. Marmol wasn’t looking great when he was pulled anyway, so there’s little reason to dispute the Cubs that pulling Marmol was just precautionary. Lord knows the Cubs can’t lose anyone vital from the bullpen right now. Oh wait… the Lord does know that. And that’s the problem.
As for what the Ramirez injury does to an already thin bench, well, it ain’t good.
The Cubs are shorthanded already because Milton Bradley is limited with a strained right groin. Lou Piniella had juggled the Cubs’ lineup in an attempt to get the offense going and compensate for the loss of Bradley, who can pinch-hit, but can’t run. They may have to do more tweaking.
“We’ve got no bench,” Piniella said. “We’ve got an extra catcher [in Koyie Hill] and [Micah] Hoffpauir and [Joey] Gathright. We’re going to have to get somebody in here.”
Translation: if Bradley and Ramirez are going to miss more than a couple more days, someone is going on the DL.
An aside on the patheticness of ESPN’s reporting on serious matters: on the Sportscenter recap of the game, there was no mention of EITHER the Ramirez injury or the Marmol injury. Um, you’d think if two of a team’s best players go down in the same game, it might be worth a passing mention.